Susan Webb Tregay NWS

Fresh Paths in Watercolor Workshop

2012-01-21T09:13:00.003-05:00

Thank you Brevard Watercolor Society, in Melborne FL vicinity, for a great workshop. I had a wonderful time and appreciate all of your hard work. Keep in touch. Sue

Crazy Kids

2012-01-12T08:38:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I sold "The Optimist and the Pessimist" (the painting of the girl jumping off a dock) to a woman who said she used to RIDE HER BIKE full speed off of their dock! We were all crazy kids after all.Great to be able to relate to people on such a visceral level.

Saturday Night at the Feed & Seed

2011-12-27T14:16:00.003-05:00

I've been learning to play the fiddle and have been thinking about this painting for a long time. The Feed & Seed is a Bluegrass venue down the road from us that doubles at a Baptist Church on Sundays. You can't get a more authentic NC mountain experience than this.

View from The Backseat

2011-12-21T08:50:00.005-05:00

I started this painting after a drive to Bat Cave. (Yes there is a town near here call "Bat Cave.") It was fall, hilly and near the Blue Ridge Parkway--sort of. So this is a painting about that drive. A day trip.

I had to really commit to this "Opposing Forces" design strategy to make this painting work. Take a look at my book, Master Disaster, or, better still, hire me to teach a workshop for your group and learn how powerful these strategies are. Of course, I'm using a Contrast of Temperature, Warm v. Cool Color Strategy. (36 x 36, acrylic)

Got a Grant!

2011-11-01T08:41:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I found out that I've been awarded a grant from the NC Arts Council to pay for a brochure for my up-coming solo show at the Hickory Museum of Art all of next summer. The money will also cover an exploratory trip to Savannah to check out galleries there. My taxes at work.

Skipper

2011-10-17T09:30:00.003-04:00

Here is my latest. After painting the girl cannon-balling off the end of the dock in "The Optimist and the Pessimist" (which just sold!), I wanted to try my hand at one more motion painting. Is this one girl skipping or four? It doesn't matter. What matter is that she/they bounce!

"Skipper, 40 x 30, acrylic

Solo Show at Turchin Center for the Arts

2011-09-29T09:10:00.003-04:00

I just got an invitation for a solo exhibition at the Turchin Center for the Arts in Boone, NC!! This will run in conjunction with teaching for Cheap Joe in September, 2013.

Oh, My DVD, Master Disaster, is now available through Artists Network. Google Susan Webb Tregay and this comes up 4 or 5 times.

Another Award for this Series

2011-08-31T15:54:00.003-04:00

Thank you Miami Watercolor Society for your gracious second place award in your 2011 Online Exhibition. The prize money will be well spent. Thanks for supporting the arts.

Moving Heaven and Earth

2011-08-23T10:30:00.007-04:00

Being an artist is great. I moved both heaven and earth yesterday in this painting--and came out with a better painting. These are "The Optimist and the Pessimist." (acrylic 40 x 30) Before (bottom) and After (top). Are you an Optimist or a Pessimist?

Museum Show!

2011-07-27T08:31:00.005-04:00

I just got an invitation for a three-month solo exhibition at the Hickory Art Museum NC. This will be the perfect place to show the best and the brightest of this series.The opening will be May 26th, 2012. If you are in NC mark your calendar!

Charleston!

2011-06-17T08:35:00.003-04:00

Painting a specific city, in this case Charleston, on a grid was a challenging experience. What do you need to give the feeling of this wonderful city? What do you need to change in order for the overall design to work? This was a fun painting, but in some ways agonizing. Enjoy.

Watercolor Clean and Simple

2011-04-23T08:58:00.004-04:00

Here is my latest watercolor version of one of my favorite acrylic paintings. Watercolor looks so pure and refreshing after layers of acrylics. "No Chile Left Inside, II."

Risk Entering Shows

2011-04-12T08:25:00.004-04:00

I just found out that this painting, "Risk Being Sorry," a 21 x 21 watercolor got into Watercolor USA. I thank the judge for taking a "risk."

Tendinitis and Orchids

2011-04-05T13:24:00.001-04:00

When you move to the Blue Ridge Mountains, you begin to feel the need to fiddle or pick. Three months after you give into that urge, you get a roaring case of fiddler's tendinitis. And you need to return to watercolor where you can paint for a week and never open a jar. Here is the result of that week.

TWSA Mini Paintings and Mine

2011-03-20T09:52:00.007-04:00

The Transparent Watercolor Society of America posted the mini paintings that it asked several of its signature members to do. Mine ("Eat Your Heart out Milton Bradley" above stands out like a sore thumb. Check them out. http://www.watercolors.org/special/2011/

Paint BOLDLY

2011-03-16T09:07:00.003-04:00

Painting BOLDLY

I got a long letter from Linda in Nova Scotia yesterday thanking me for my book,Master Disaster(amazon.com. She said that it gave her permission to paint BOLDLY. I guess up there watercolor is "supposed to be" soft. Thank you, Linda, for your letter. Email me! I'd love to "talk."

Truth, Fiction and White Lies

2011-03-09T13:16:00.004-05:00

I spent last week agonizing over this painting. I felt that I had set the bar too high with my last grid piece. A couple of days ago I printed out and early version of it and added black and white to the RYB piece, and bit the bullet and painted it in. What a difference.

Those of you who have studied with me know where I'm coming from when I impose a color strategy on a painting. This was a great lesson for myself. Hire me for a workshop and I'll give you the scoop--and many more, for that matter.

Know, Yes, Maybe

2011-02-15T15:43:00.004-05:00

I've spent the past week creating a 36 x 36 inch painting that starts with a grid pattern. Large-scale, this is very successful. I wish you all could see it at this size.

A Watercolor!

2011-02-03T08:38:00.002-05:00

I have always loved watercolor for it's smoothness, and my acrylics for their texture. This watercolor breaks up space instead of creating texture. It's an old look that I used for years, but this is the first time with my new series.

This piece is only 6" x 6," I was asked to contribute one this size for the TWSA (Transparent Watercolor Society of America) auction. But I won't know if I even got into the show until March.

Milton Bradley, Eat Your Heart Out

2011-01-26T08:34:00.002-05:00

This is the companion piece to my last entry, "everyone Else Lived on the Hill." I haven't decided on a name, but someone suggested "Milton Bradly on Acid." I love this idea, but need to tone it down a bit, if I'm going to write it on the edge of the canvas.

Everyone Else Lived on the Hill

2011-01-11T12:58:00.003-05:00

Here is my latest. I got a phone call today from the "girl" who owned the swing set that I painted in my last post. We haven't talked together in at least 35 years. Thanks for calling, Jane!

Push/Pull, acrylic 30 x 40

2011-01-08T08:12:00.005-05:00

Didn't you love to swing? I preferred the huge swings at the park, but these swing sets that threatened to tip over when you went to high held a certain amount of danger that was irresistible to us kids.

Someday, when I have my museum retrospective, I will find one of these swing sets and do a big painting like this one, and hang it from the top bar--and maybe another one of a girl hanging by her knees on one of the cross bars.

Dare to Be Sorry

2010-12-23T09:05:00.001-05:00

Here is the watercolor version of "The Age of Anxiety." Doing these in watercolor takes a lot more pre-planning than I am used to. I even needed to get out the dreaded Maskoid for the raindrops--and should have used it elsewhere as well. Next time.

Before the Age of Anxiety

2010-10-27T15:39:00.003-04:00

Here is my latest, and most fun of all. Remember big pot holes in the middle of the deepest puddles?

Word of Mouth

2010-09-16T08:16:00.009-04:00

An exhibition challenged me to tell a story in 80 square inches, so I came up with this little painting ("Word of Mouth"). Originally I had moved to canvas to have a BIG space for my stories, so this was particularly difficult for me. But three girls, three very different personalities and some tension told a unique story. The viewer can fill in the "words."

Adult Children

2010-09-13T08:25:00.003-04:00

I loved the gesture in the photo that this painting materialized from. It brought home the exuberance that we had for nearly everything. We went white water rafting last weekend and that exuberance came back in full force. We will always be adult children.

Yonder II

2010-09-09T07:52:00.005-04:00

This posting is for Ken, who wanted to see the new painting in the Andrews Art Museum exhibit. I was driving back from teaching a workshop in Idaho Falls and watched the clouds line up this way all the way back to Boise. Believe me, clouds don't do this in the East. Kathi Eagan, my Buffalo agent, sold "Yonder," one of the paintings that was accepted into the show. So I did this replacement.

Andrews Art Museum

2010-09-07T09:01:00.002-04:00

Here are my paintings at that Andrews Art Museum. Congratulations to all of the other artists in the show. It was a fine selection of contemporary work. I was very pleased at how my paintings fit in.

Rhetorical Questions

2010-05-18T14:08:00.003-04:00

Did you mother plague you with rhetorical questions? "Your not going to wear those are you?" While I've had this idea in my head for many years, this painting was inspired by a book Myrna gave me. Thanks Myrna.

Now or Never

2010-04-19T09:57:00.003-04:00

If any of you were at Kanuga Watermedia Workshops last week, this is the completed demo, Now or Never.

The Cake

2010-04-13T08:27:00.003-04:00

I found a cake like this by Chef Ryan on Facebook, and wondered why I didn't think of this myself. After all, I made plenty of cakes like this before I discovered the bakery. Just ask my kids.

What else can I pile up and paint?

Web Site of all My New Work

2010-03-23T08:20:00.002-04:00

Check out my new web site. See them all. wwww.susanwebbtregay.com

Sooner or Later...

2010-03-23T08:15:00.005-04:00

I've been having too much fun painting to keep up with this. Here is my current favorite. I'm working on 24 x 24 canvases and having a hard time keeping them simple enough for this smaller size. But this one works. The caption on the side of this gallery-wrapped canvas reads "Sooner or later we learn to fly."

Down in the Valley Where the Green Grass Grows

2010-03-08T08:25:00.005-05:00

Chanting while jumping rope kept us busy for hours. We didn't know that we were burning calories. We were playing and competing with our friends--or even ourselves. Remember Double Dutch, crossing our arms, double jumps? This series on Free-Range Children is bring back memories and lessons for the future. Watch for my new web-site with 15 paintings in the series. Coming to this screen soon!

Content in Sand Painting

2010-02-01T08:47:00.005-05:00

Here is an amazing video. If you aren't sure what content is in painting, don't miss this.

Here I come, Ready or Not!

2010-01-30T08:26:00.004-05:00

This is the latest in my "Free-Range Children" series. What do you think?

My Studio

2010-01-29T08:33:00.001-05:00

My Philosophy Exactly

2010-01-25T08:07:00.001-05:00

"To try and take iron-control of a painting is to kill it at birth. Yet to let it run riot almost certainly ends in anarchy or mud. I've found that if I alternate between order and chaos, intuition and intellect, then the painting slowly reveals itself." Nick Bantock

Paintings that Keep on Giving

2010-01-18T08:42:00.000-05:00

Here is a thought to kick you all into high gear this week.

"To me, a great painting is a painting that is able to help you see the world in a different way. And its not just what you see in the painting, but what you're able to see after you leave the painting, and the way that the painting is able to expand your ability to see the world in new and different ways." Lester Marks, Houston collector

A Museum Show!

2010-01-13T15:45:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I found out that I got three of these new paintings into a museum show! More about this when I find out the details.

My DVD

2010-01-11T16:14:00.005-05:00

If this works right, you can go see a bit of my DVD, Master Disaster, 5 Ways to Rescue Desperate Watercolors. My book and DVD Show you five steps to begin, work through and/or finish a painting with punch and pizazz. Check it out.

No Child Left Inside

2010-01-09T08:36:00.002-05:00

Here is my latest (40 x 30, acrylic). For a person who never liked texture in my watercolors, I have turned into a texture queen in this painting. Actually, I spent a lot of time toning down first natural textures that occur with this style of painting, then the textures that I created or saved along the way. Does it work for you?

Van Gogh's Ear

2010-01-05T08:46:00.001-05:00

There is an article in the current New Yorker, that I've been meaning to tell you about. Van Gogh's Ear, the Christmas that Changed Modern Art.

Based on a German book by reputable German academics, it says that Gauguin was quite the swordsman and went around with a sword often--and that HE cut off the ear...perhaps while defending himself with a sword. Evidently the cut was too clean to have been done by Van Gogh, people don't self-mutilate themselves that way and there are subsequent letters between the two men that imply that this is what happened.

So Gauguin ran off to Tahiti, became the first "primitive" painter and influenced Picasso with this style. And thus "the Christmas that changed Modern Art". Hmmmmm.

Check out My DVD

2009-12-16T09:02:00.002-05:00

My DVD, Master Disaster 5 Ways to Rescue Desperate Watercolors, is now available on ArtistsNetwork.TV. You can view the first section for free here. Check it out.

Fake Reality

2009-12-01T08:37:00.006-05:00

Here is a new painting that I've been trying to get under control from quite a while. When the imagination goes wild, design is crucial. But I can't be hindered by it. Thus I needed to calm this piece down and correct it's balance with the help of Kathy.

ISAP gives me a prize!

2009-11-02T10:10:00.004-05:00

I found out today that Maxine Masterfield gave me a prize (6th place) in the ISAP Online International Open Exhibition 2009. Being my first prolonged foray into acrylic painting--and my first into this heavy texture that is capturing my eye--I am thrilled. Thank you Maxine, where ever you are.

Heavy Texture and "Realism"

2009-09-03T08:51:00.004-04:00

I've been trying to create paintings with my new-to-me texture on a smaller scale. These are my Square Footers, 12 x 12. In the first, I tried to loose my new dependence on outlining, but the work ends up more realistic than I had planned. The second paintings is a definite extension of my recent work--on a more common topic, flowers. What do you think?

The Painting Career

2009-08-24T13:19:00.003-04:00

Friends and I have been discussing our various goals in art and life. Then Ken sent me this. Cut out the third paragraph and pin it on your bulletin boards.

The Great Wave, by Hokusai

Hokusai (1760-1849)
Katsushika Hokusai, Japan's best known artist, is ironically Japan's least Japanese artist. Japan's best known woodblock print, The Great Wave, is very un-Japanese. Welcome to the artist often known as Hokusai.

Hokusai (1760-1849) lived during the Tokugawa period (1600 to 1867). In a Japan of traditional Confucian values and feudal regimentation, Hokusai was a thoroughly Bohemian artist: cocky, quarrelsome, restless, aggressive, and sensational. He fought with his teachers and was often thrown out of art schools. As a stubborn artistic genius, he was single-mindedly obsessed with art. Hokusai left over 30,000 works, including silk paintings, woodblock prints, picture books, manga, travel illustrations, erotic illustrations, paintings, and sketches. Some of his paintings were public spectacles which measured over 200 sq. meters (2,000 sq. feet.) He didn't care much for being sensible or social respect; he signed one of his last works as "The Art-Crazy Old Man". In his 89 years, Hokusai changed his name some thirty times (Hokusai wasn't his real name) and lived in at least ninety homes. We laugh and recognize him as an artist, but wait, that's because we see him as a Western artist, long before the West arrived in Japan.

"From the age of six I had a mania for drawing the shapes of things. When I was fifty I had published a universe of designs. but all I have done before the the age of seventy is not worth bothering with. At seventy five I'll have learned something of the pattern of nature, of animals, of plants, of trees, birds, fish and insects. When I am eighty you will see real progress. At ninety I shall have cut my way deeply into the mystery of life itself. At a hundred I shall be a marvelous artist. At a hundred and ten everything I create; a dot, a line, will jump to life as never before. To all of you who are going to live as long as I do, I promise to keep my word. I am writing this in my old age. I used to call myself Hokosai, but today I sign my self 'The Old Man Mad About Drawing." -- Hokusai

The Rabbit Hole

2009-08-15T08:49:00.003-04:00

I've been thinking about a comment I heard last week. Why just look down that rabbit hole and dream of what might be possible. Jump down the rabbit hole and experience being an artist, Alice. (Is there a rabbit hole painting in my near future?)

With the down economy, take advantage of these months to explore ourselves as painters. This is a unique time (hopefully). We need not spend time painting for someone else's decor. Paint for ourselves. Explore that rabbit hole.

Julie/Julia

2009-08-13T08:13:00.001-04:00

I re-read the Julia/Julie book in preparation for seeing the movie. Both are terrific. Meryl Streep IS Julia Child. This disappointed me a little, Streep seems like such a fun person, I wanted to see her playing the part.

I've been trying to equate her acting to painting. I think that a method actor such as her becomes Julia Child, and that is equivalent to realistic painting. A character actor, say Goldie Hawn, always plays some version of herself. This might be like putting yourselves into your paintings. Does that make me the Sandra Bullock of paintings? ;-)

Escher and Me

2009-08-12T08:43:00.004-04:00

"Only those who attempt the absurd will achieve the impossible." M. C. Escher This quote that really reflects my passion for painting.

Making the impossible possible is the thrust of my style, my book, Master Disaster, my DVD and my workshops. Developed from notes on how I managed to finish dozens of paintings, I review my book when finishing each and every painting. And I do make the impossible possible!

Watercolor Rules

2009-08-11T08:40:00.002-04:00

I wish the title of this post meant that watercolor RULES! But I'm afraid that this is just another rant on the rules and restrictions that some organizations feel are necessary to maintain the status quo.

I read that there were 613 commandments in the Old Testament, and about one third of them were "thou shalt nots." So I counted up the commandments in the TWSA prospectus that I was about to throw out and there are 29 commandments, 14 of them are "thou shalt nots." They actually do have a ways to go. :-)Just give them time.

So You Think You Can Dance

2009-08-10T10:58:00.007-04:00

I just got back from teaching a wonderful workshop for the West Virginia Watercolor Society. The classes enthusiasm over making a "flip book" astounded me. They are sure to continue their quest for the perfect samples of color and design strategies. These DO take your paintings to a new level.

Then we discussed content. This was new to some of the class, and exciting to all. How do you put more of yourself into a painting? How do you get some ideas peculating in what used to be "just a pretty picture?"

While this concept may have been new to painting for some artists, they understand content when it applies to other forms of art.

The last night my wonderful hosts and I watched "So You Think you can Dance" (Is that the title? I'm not a TV watcher.) Anyway, the criticism of the dancers was light and nice, but it centered around two things. Evan evoked the style of Fred Astair--sweet and old-fashioned--like most of our paintings. He and his partner found it hard to really express themselves with this style. In painting we might say that the technique dominated the painting. And the artists personality and emotions couldn't show through.

While struggling with content in our paintings these quandaries that the dancers faced was obvious to average people. The judges even complimented one corriographer for daring to create a "conceptual" piece for the competition so near it's end. Another corrieographer created a dance that he thought would be "Popular" with the voting audience. I don't know the results of the voting. did Evan's popular work win? Please let me know.

2009-07-10T09:04:00.002-04:00

I had a great time teaching in Waynesville, North Carolina, a couple of weeks ago and staying with David and Nancy looking at Waynesville Mountain from every window. This mountain, combined with watching two girls playing freely on a lawn, brought together my recent experiences.

This painting is untitled as of now. (I have 1135 painting titles in my computer--so there is no excuse for this.)It is acrylic 30 x 40.

This Way

2009-07-08T15:49:00.003-04:00

Having returned to my "Irrational Perspective Houses" of my past, I rummaged around in my memory for a watercolor that I had done of my childhood self with my bike. What fun we had careening down hills and riding far out into the country-side. I think that I'm on my way to a series called "Free-range Children."

I have to give credit to a book by that name for putting into words (and into my mind) the lifestyle we enjoyed. According to the author, today's crime statistics are about what they were in the 1950's. The difference seems to be the 24 hour news cycle of today versus the half-hour with Walter Cronkite back then. Only now we worry about free-range chickens.

That Way

2009-06-09T15:57:00.005-04:00

Here is my latest. "That Way," 36 x 36 Acrylic on canvas.
I've had a ball with my big paintings. They move along fast and create mini surprises as I layer color over color. Enlarge this image and see what I mean.

Photographing them, though, has been a challenge. I have a Cannon Power Shot G9 and tons of experience shooting slides. But how to light big paintings,and not get way too yellow a cast to these works?

If I set the camera on Program, go to the Auto White Balance option, and then follow the directions to color correct using my old gray card from my slide days, I ended up with correct color!! And the camera is supposed to remember this setting. It also automatically bracketed my shots, but this probably isn't necessary.

I was also pleased to be accepted into the 2009 San Diego Watercolor Society's national show with my houses on stilts, and am currently in the Transparent Watercolor Society of America's national.

Going for it Big Time

2009-05-08T08:30:00.003-04:00

Finally I've been able to go big! 30 x 40 canvases are now easy to manage with some basics from Jane Filer's approach toward underpainting. My new ventilation system makes an hour or two in front of a canvas safe for me. So I am off and running--and running up my paint bill.

Here is a stab at painting my old waterfall sketches in acrylic while taking advantage of the fun things that I do with my house paintings.

Workshopping

2009-04-26T10:10:00.006-04:00

'Tis the season for workshops, whether I'm teaching one, or for the first time in a decade, taking one. I just got back from a long, fabulous weekend with Jane Filer on North Carolina's coast. You will see changes in my art for sure from that experience. Bigger, texture and acrylics.

Here I am giving demo at the Kanuga Watermedia Workshops a few weeks ago (I'll be teaching there next March). The photo was taken my an Internet friend of mine, Donna Zagotta, whom I met for the first time there. Audacious is my middle name. May it be yours too.

See you all at my Blue Ridge Watermedia Workshop, In Waynesville, North Carolina, June 15-18. Call Nancy Belvins at 828 246-0237 for details.

Painting "Out"

2009-04-14T08:43:00.005-04:00

I just checked my friend Myrna's blog and she had a couple of photos of her painting in Spain, so here is how I managed on the streets of Shanghai. I learned to hold all of my stuff and still get a sketch/painting done in 20 minutes. The Chinese people were fascinated, reassuring and friendly.

China Town in Shanghai

2009-03-30T16:08:00.006-04:00

Hello artist friends, my travel companions and my new Chinese friend, Tinker Bell,

I have just survived getting all of my sketches up on my web site www.tregay.com. Look for CHINA in the fourth box down on my home page. Enjoy--and let me know if something doesn't work. I'm an artist, not a computer nerd.

Sue

China

2009-03-27T14:17:00.007-04:00

We are back. China was wonderful, interesting and educational. I highly recommend going. Hello out there to my fellow travellers.

I was on an ordinary tour with minutes to paint here and there, but I still had a breakthrough. I managed to fit all of my supplies into a zip-lock bag. That was a revelation. Since there were so many people around that I couldn't sit down, I then I found that I could hold all that stuff in one hand and still paint with the other.

A painting tip that I'd lit to share now is my sketchbook. With so many variables that you have to deal with when painting out, it is best to use the paper that you always use. One less variable. So I take Arches paper to Staples (and other such stores) and have 6 pages bound together for a few bucks. Cut the paper any size and shape that you like.

Why only six pages, though? These sketch books become very valuable as they fill. If you lost one, you don't want it to have all of your sketches in it. When I pack up to go home, I place different sketchbooks in different suitcases in case a bag is lost.

People who buy the original sketches get them with the holes punched in the top. I recommend that they frame them up so that the holes show. This guarantees that they were done on location.

China Here We Come!

2009-03-10T09:09:00.002-04:00

I am off to China, and can hardly wait to see what I'll come back with and how this will affect my art. I have done some wonderful sketches on painting trips (like the one pictured here of Italy), but this is a regular tour with my sister, her husband and my husband. We will see if I can get the kind of work done that I'd like to do.

I did buy a fishing vest with lots of pockets that holds my art stuff. I really wanted this for hiking around North Carolina, but will give it it's first try in China.

Wish me luck.

Content--Recording Today's World

2009-02-24T19:46:00.003-05:00

After seeing one of Jane Filer's paintings in an Asheville, NC gallery, I began wondering what I could do with her images of pillars. So this painting began with the notion that the pillars of society are failing us. Drawing my center house on those pillars was exhilarating. But building the neighborhood around him became the ultimate challenge for my crazy brain. What do you see? Where was I going with these ideas? How can you make ideas into images?

A Business Plan for the Mature Artists ;-)

2009-02-19T08:38:00.004-05:00

Sue Smith has posted a small book on Lulu that might be of help and interest to us artists of advancing age. "Ancient Wisdom: Emerging Artists, A Business Plan for the Mature Artist." Check it out.

Fracturing with a New Subject

2009-02-13T09:10:00.004-05:00

After working with texture in the past two florals, I wanted to try those techniques with another subject.

I was the art critic for a local paper in my past home of Rockford, IL. Here I worked with this young artist on several occasions--and painted him 3 or 4 times in styles from Manga to sloppy realism.

This painting was developed on the plaid in his jacket. Boxiness being my favorite way of doodling, the sharpened back end of my paint brush provided just the right tool.

The Wonders of Packing Tape, Part 2

2009-02-11T08:57:00.004-05:00

Here is my second pass at fracturing a floral using my packing tape. I was never one to explore texture--especially if it meant damaging my paper. Now I just feel the need to move on and do something different.

Here I have relied on sharpening the end of a paint brush in my pencil sharpener, dipping it in purple paint and using that to draw with. There are some dots of oil pastel in the lower right and some shaved watercolor pencil in other places.

The Wonders of Packing Tape

2009-02-10T08:43:00.004-05:00

Those of you who have read my book or taken one of my workshops know the wonders of packing tape as an essential art supply--and about the cheapest one around. I use two inch wide, clear tape for several purposes, but here I am using it to fracture my painting.

It has been too cold to paint in my studio, so I grabbed my watercolors and moved upstairs to a bedroom. Painting neat, clean and small, I decided it was time to try fracturing to get more ideas into a smaller space.

Simply dividing my paper with tape and painting this bouquet in various ways on each side of the tape created a new look.

Testing Various Surfaces

2009-01-29T09:08:00.004-05:00

These past months I have been working on a variety of canvases, Yupo, and boards. What am I looking for? An opportunity to appreciate opaque paints. For years, actually decades, I have enjoyed the pure stained-glass look of clear watercolor, and I thought of opacity as a crutch for corrections. But opaque areas are really another dimension in the continuum of paint surfaces.

In this piece, "Yellow Slippers" 12 x 12, I'm trying out my new linen canvas. It both acts as a mid-tone and neutralizes the first layers of acrylic paint. Brighter areas take a second or third application to bring up. Pattern is also a new and exciting addition to my repertoire. You never stop learning and experimenting when you are an artist. Just keep on painting.

Vandalizing Arches

2009-01-16T08:39:00.002-05:00

Here is the second in my graffiti series. While I'm have great fun "vandalizing" my Arches paper, my friends' reactions to this piece cover the whole spectrum--from being afraid of clowns to discussions on Alfred E. Newman. (He is more distracting than I thought that he'd be.) And some folks LOVED the piece. What do you think?

Sketching a la Zentgle.com

2009-01-13T12:32:00.003-05:00

This wonderful little accordion sketchbook was a gift from Becky Pelley when I moved from Rockford, IL, and the perfect surface for drawing a la Zentagle.com. It started out as a wave pattern and quickly migrated into an underground home for some little beast. It may turn into a bunny book for my grandson. Doodling is always a great way to loosen up that creative energy. How do you loosen up?

Art and Poetry

2009-01-09T15:24:00.007-05:00

Bev Adams from the Cazenovia Watercolor Society surprised me with this poem at the end of our workshop. Thank you Bev, I am really honored. The slide show following this post is from that great workshop. Can I interest your group in one?

FOR OUR TALENTED, INSPIRING , PROVOCATIVE,

UPBEAT, PRACTICAL, SHARING, TRUSTY LEADER

Susan Tregay

Has a wonderful way

Of making a workshop fun.

We tape and we mop

Anything that's a flop

Then marvel at what we have done.

She stresses CONtent

And won't be conTENT

Till we are expressing our passion.

Says she, be unique,

Develop technique

So your paintings are not purely fashion.

Jasper Johns brought our Susan

Out of confusion

And he changed her art life forever.

He said don't relax

Let your painting climax

At the end of a threefold endeavor.

Sue pushes brainstorming

For ideas a-forming

She herself has a brain that is quirky.

Though her houses are cockeyed,

Her perspective quite lopside,

Still, she rarely turns out a turkey.

For pupils perplexed

About what to do next

She shouts loud and clear "Make it darker"

Apply lots of paint,

Don't be what you ain't

And then make it even more darker.

(apologies to my English teachers.)

Approximation

Can bring elation

Sayeth Susan, our woman wise

Step by step

Through goals she swept

Until she reached the prize.

Now we offer our thanks

You've filled our art banks

And we each have a flip book to treasure.

You helped us define

What is known as design

And you've given us very full measure.

Thank you, thank you, Susan, for a fun

and instructive four days.

And thank you for teaching us that "nice" is not enough.

Cazenovia Watercolor Society Workshop

May 5 to 8 2008

Finish that Painting with punch and Pizzaz! Learn THE PLAN. Sign up for a workshop for your group.

2009-01-08T14:46:00.004-05:00

Look, Line and Fun

2008-12-30T15:03:00.005-05:00

We had a wonderful trip to Boston a couple of weeks ago. One alley combined all that I look for when I hit a city. What is NEW in that area's art? What can I learn from this art? How do they use line--my latest passion?

This graffiti was a small part of a long alley full of great images. While I have rearranged many of the elements, some of them are developed from my studying the rest of the alley. The black lines, done with those large magic markers, they pull together a very disparate painting.

Carl Sandburg's Pond

2008-12-19T16:07:00.004-05:00

This is a test to see if you can enlarge a photo by clicking on it. And, yes you can, but I don't know how i did it. Sorry. No, this is not a painting, but it is a revelation to me. When I took this photo, I decided that I no longer needed to show "how an artist sees." Suddenly that seemed not only pointless, since a photo can do it for me, but it also seemed somewhat arrogant.

Kai Althoff

2008-12-17T08:48:00.002-05:00

There was one painting at the ICA in Boston that really caught my eye by Kia Althoff. Part of it was very flat and done right on the backside of the plexi, the rest of it was in watercolor. In looking on the net for this artist, I found that his choice of materials was nothing less than wild. There is much to learn from looking at what he makes his art out of. Anything can make art. Goggle him and take a look. I couldn't find any shots of the type of painting that caught my eye, though.

Look Closer

2008-12-16T15:33:00.006-05:00

We spent the weekend in Boston with our new and only grandson. As much as I'd like to spend my time here pontificating on his wonders, I'd like to get back to our discussion on learning from all kinds of art.

We got to see Tara Donovan's incredible exhibition at Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art. The show, entitled "Look Closer" was a beautiful, undulating of translucent ceilings, walls and floors. When you "looked closer" you saw that the ceiling was a cloud of Styrofoam cups. Turning the corner there was a wall that was ten feet long and eight feet high and was created with drinking straws which were just stacked there--no glue. The floors were, in one case, wisps of Scotch tape that looked like valley fog, and, in the other, stacks of translucent drinking cups--and ethereal landscape.

Donvan's 3 foot square blocks of toothpicks or dress maker pins were familiar to me. She had packed them in a box, removed the boxes' sides and they magically held the shape of the box. There was also a 3 foot cube made of safety glass. 144 sheet of glass were stacked up and then Donovan began tapping the corners with a hammer. The sheets began to fracture into tiny pieces--but the cube retained it's shape.

These were 'on site' creations once there were gone--or fell--they would never be built the same again. Yes, they were literally and figuratively enthral.

What problem did the artist set up for herself, as Marilyn Hughey Phyllis would ask? She wanted to use common, disposable objects to make incredible art. Did she succeed? You bet! How can I use her solutions in my own art? There isn't an easy answer for this one. I am a 2D artist through and through. Could I use common objects to print patterns on my paintings? Styrofoam cups, rubber bands, piles of toothpicks wet with paint?

The intensity and consistency that she approaches this mystical feeling in her art is something that I need to explore. What feelings do I need to get into paintings? Can I become consistent enough to delve deeply into them?

Check out her work through the link to the right. You won't be disappointed.

In Search of the Perfect Imperfect Line

2008-12-07T15:05:00.018-05:00

Although there is wealth of inspiration in Oliver's Folk Art Gallery, I was first taken by the use of line in one artist's work. Michael Banks coats plywood with tar, and paints wonderful, imaginative l figures on these boards in oils. He then incises through the paint to make gestural and random lines and drawings. How can I better use line in my own work? What tools can I make them with? Can I be brave enough to slash a random line here or there? Can this be a break though? This type of exploration is what keeps we artists excited. What do you make lines with? What else can you make lines with?

My first attempt at my "perfect imperfect line" required that I move to canvas. Here I created lines with stitching. My first few attempts were nicely crude and random, but I quickly got fancy. But as my embroidery improved, the rough look I was after began to fade.

(Promises, 12 x 12, mixed media on raw canvas)

Switching back to watercolor, I was then was able to make headway with creative lines and patterns. But the pen was too easy, and after a series of 3 of these boredom set in once again, and I was ready to move on.

(Imagination and Reality #1, 30 x 22, watercolor on paper)

So I dug out a ruling pen from my graphic arts' days. This pen allows me to fill it by running a brush loaded with watercolor across the dual points. Switching colors with this is easy. But it is a pen, and I quickly became too facile with that too. Michael Banks' gestural look was once again escaping me.

Then I squirted some acrylic right out to the tube onto a sample painting like Laura Owens might do. That was cool. I will use this again some time.

Next came an experiment with a hypodermic needle which clogged instantly. But Jane Filer mentioned a tool that reminded me of a big "hypodermic needle" that I bought years ago for monotypes. (Similar "bellows bottles" now available at http://www.waterbasedinks.com.) For now, I have found my tool!

I can squirt acrylic paint directly into the back of it, and hold it in my fist as I push the plunger with my thumb. With this awkward movement, I'm achieving a gestural line that has a life of it's own. I can "inject" any extra paint into back into its tube and flush it out with my paint water with a few pumps of the plunger.

Where will this new line take me? Look where it took me at first. Where can I go from here?

Write me about you experiments with line. We'd all love to hear from you.

(The Day the Ginkos Fall, 12 x 12, acrylic on raw linen)

Looking at all Kinds of Art

2008-12-05T15:28:00.009-05:00

I once went museum hopping with Marilyn Hughey Phillis after a long day at a workshop. We were both exhausted, but she still had the stamina to look at each painting for several minutes. Finally I asked her what she was looking for, and she said that she looked for three things in a painting.

1. What challenge did this artist set up for herself?

2. Did she succeed in solving her challenge?

and 3. How can I use her solution in my own work.

Look at all kinds of art. Check out my favorite artists listed to the right. Challenge yourself.